Dedicated to the preservation & promotion of pure Sanatan Hindu Sikhi heritage which the great Gurus strived to uphold.Today it is systematically being Talibanised by Neo-Sikhs,who are painting an Abrahamic picture of pure Sikhi traditions and brainwashing the Sikh youth into accepting a Sikh history which the Shiromani Guru Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha & Akhand Kirtani Jatha (AKJ) have edited & rewritten shamelessly.

13 April, 2012

The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre also known as the Amritsar Massacre, was named after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in Amritsar where, on April 13, 1919, 90 British Indian Army soldiers under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. Civil Surgeon Dr. Smith indicated that there were 1,526 casualties.On April 13, thousands of people gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh (garden) near the Golden Temple in Amritsar, on Baisakhi, both a harvest festival and the Sikh religious New Year. It was in 1699 during this festival that the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa adding the name Singh or Kaur to every Sikh's name. For more than two hundred years, this annual festival had drawn thousands from all over India.

The Jallianwala Bagh was bounded on all sides by houses and buildings and had few narrow entrances, most of which were kept permanently locked. Apart from the many deaths directly from the firing, a number of deaths were caused by stampedes at the narrow gates as also people who sought shelter from the firing by jumping into the solitary well inside the compound.

Below:

A memorial to all those men, women & children who were massacred in cold blood by General Dyer

Let us begin with all the MYTHS propagated by Tat Khalsa stooges & the popular one that we all have been following blindly for the past 60 odd years. I've spoken about the first 2 Myths - now here is the third one:

MYTH No 3 :Sikhs do not believe in CASTE & the Facts are :

To be honest, this is the best lie which is used for Hindu bashing. All of us Sikhs do know which 'caste' we are descended from. I fully know I am a Tarkhaan with my roots in Kshatriya ancestry, which is mentioned in the Manu Smriti. Up to my great great grandfather we were ( and are still Sanatan Hindus of heritage ) until we became Keshdhari Singhs. That is 5 generations ago. My great great grandfather did not have the middle name Singh. He was a Hindu.

Let us take a good look at all the lies that have been spread by Tat Khalsa British puppets in the last couple of centuries to divide the Hindu & Sikh brothers. Punjab caste system was initially established by the British to keep their firm grip on Punjab which is a great agricultural area serving most parts of North India.

The word CASTE is not rooted in Hindu thought but it is a Portuguese word 'CASTO'. There used to be only four VARNAS or groups in Vedic India - Brahmins ( teachers & priests & even warriors), Kshatriyas ( warriors & ruling class ), Vaishyas ( trading class, craftsmen etc ) & Shudras ( those who lived unclean lives of hunting, consuming meat & alcohol & cremating corpses ). All of these Varnas were ensured employment & livelihood through their various skills.

The Vedic philosophy behind this Varna system was : A human being belongs to ALL these four Varnas - He becomes a Brahmin whenever he goes to offer Pujas ( prayers ) at the temple, does Jaap & recites the sacred Name of the Supreme Being; He becomes a Kshatriya when he stands up & takes up arms against enemies of the country, to protect his family from danger, to be loyal to the King & to protect the weak; He becomes a Vaishya when he goes into business, buying & selling, engages in building work etc and finally the human also becomes a Shudra whenever he cleans his house, forgets to recite the sacred Name of Paramatma, engages in bad repulsive behaviour, such as consuming meat, alcohol, drugs etc which is contradictory to the laws of the Vedas.

It is believed that Vedic India thrived under this great philosophy of Varna system. Shudras were constantly encouraged by the Brahmins & Khsatriyas to elevate themselves & were treated equally so to encourage them into the Vedic fold. One classic example is that of Rishi Valmiki, who was born a Shudra & was a hunter. A Brahmin Rishi pointed out to Valmiki one day that the bad Karma he was accumulating, through hunting innocent animals to feed himself as well as his family, he would never become free from the bondage of sin accumulated through his actions. The Rishi told Valmiki of how he was sinning by killing innocent souls just to feed his family, who would not be the ones answerable in their after lives & that he was making a graveyard out of his stomach. The words of the Rishi made Valmiki think deeply & he renounced all his bad karma & joined a group of Brahmin sadhus. Valmiki, though born a Shudra, became to be honoured not only by all the other 3 Varnas but also the Vedic Gods fell at his feet. Lord Rama is is said to have honoured Valmiki by giving him the Divya Dhrishti ( Divine Eye ).

The message is deeply philosophical in Vedic thought in that it is up to a person, whether he is a Brahmin or Shudra, to elevate his thoughts, actions, speech, behaviour, dress, etiquette etc to a Spiritual level that is pleasing to human society as well as to the Devatas.

The story of Shabri Bheel is also another beautiful episode in the Ramayana that was composed by Valmiki. Shabri, born a tribal, yearned for her Lord Hari all her life to come in person & bless her. Rama, the incarnation of Lord Hari ( Vishnu ) not only paid the aged Shabri a visit, the Supreme Lord also fell at her feet, touching them, revering her as His mother, but also ate all the sweet berries which Shabri gave to Him after having tasted them herself to make sure they were not bitter. Shabri had lived her life as a Sadhvi in the Sangat of Brahmin Sadhus. She had ran away from her wedding where the tribals were doing mass slaughter of innocent animals to feed the guests. Angry & dismayed at the mass slaughter & sad plight of animals, Shabri Bheel refused to marry & instead renounced the material world.

Both these instances mentioned in the epic Ramayana, indicate that the tribals, lower ranks, Shudras etc were highly encouraged by Brahmin Rishis to live a spiritual life free from bad karma, conducive to Vedic society as well as in harmony with the Earth & be honoured & be equal as one of them. The choice was left up to an individual whether to remain uncivilised or to be part of the highly spiritual Vedic brotherhood.

When ManMohan Singh became the Prime Minister of India, the media was rife with stories of his background with brothers' photos & write ups about their professions etc. His surname was mentioned as Kohli which is a Hindu Kshatriya name. So this in fact means that ManMohan Singh Kohli hails from a Hindu family whose ancestors probably gave their first son to join the Khalsa panth of Sanatan Sikhi to fight against the Islamic barbarians.

The bare truth is Sikhs are more divided into caste than Hindus, though we are always told that Sikhism was created to rid Punjab of caste systems & that only Hindus practise this, But it is only a lie created by the NEO Sikhs. Nowhere do any of the Gurus mention in their banis that they are creating a new religion called Sikhism because of the Hindu caste system, or any so called 'malpractices' in Hindu Dharam. These are blatant suppression of true facts of our Puraatan Sanatan Sikh heritage by the Tat Khalsa.

For example, a Jatt will always marry a Jatt, a Ramgarhia will always marry a Ramgarhia, a Chamar will always marry a Chamar, the other two, Jatt & Ramgarhia will never marry into each other - I have seen a Ramgarhia friend of mine thrashed badly when he asked for the hand of his Jatt girlfriend from her father & brothers - these two groups will never marry into Chamars either. Further, the Naamdharis will never marry Jatts nor the Ramgarhias - then we have the Aroras, Khatri, Saini, Mohyal ( Brahmins Sikhs), Chibber ( Brahmin Sikhs), Bhatias, Kamboh,Mahton, Kalal, Ahluvaliyas, Soniyares & Chchimbas to mention a few. Of all these, the Jatts form the majority in terms of numbers in Sikh society with agriculture as their signature trade. Illiterate & mostly farmers from the beginning, Jatts had been given a special recognition by the British satans who brainwashed them into believing that the Jatt 'race' comes from Greece & that they were outsiders, ensuring that Jatts will forever be loyal puppets of the British Raj. Though now, they are educated & hold various professions, the politics of Punjab & the running of all Sikh institutions have gone to Jatts, since the time of the British. This also includes the Tat Khalsa, SGPC & Akaal Takht. Jatts form 68% of Sikh society today.

Brahmin Sikhs - believed to have originated from Gandhaar( Afghanistan) as well as Kashmir & also from Punjab region, are today found in rural Punjab. They are cooks, farmers & shop keepers. During the Islamic invasions of Afghanistan, Kashmir & Punjab, the Brahmins had been forced into giving up their livelihoods as priests & teachers. All landmark ancient Hindu temples had been destroyed by the Islamic Maleshas & Punjab was targeted for a campaign of loot, arson, desecration, plunder & rape of Hindu sacred places & of Hindu women - the Brahmins were the most highly persecuted. With no Hindu temples left in Punjab, the Brahmins almost were forced to stop Vedic rituals, which was blasphemy for the Islamic tyrants & the Hindus of Punjab were under warnings not to continue with Vedic worship. If caught, the repercussions were death through torturous means.

Mohyal Brahmins are a warrior class of Brahmins who are also traditionally teachers or Gurus & priests & all our Gurus maintained their company throughout for guidance & education. Famous Brahmins who were martyred for Punjab & along side of Gurus were : Bhai Mati Das, Bhai Sati Das, Bhai Dayal Das, Bhai Chaupa, Bhai Buddh, Bhai Birham, Bhai Kripa Ram Dutt ( teacher to Guru Gobind Singhji & Khalsa warrior ) etc. Many had served as Brahmins under all our Gurus - especially during the building of Sri HariMandirji where the Praan Pratishtha ( sacred ceremony ) of laying the foundation stone & sanctum was done by the Brahmins of Punjab. Many Brahmins served inside the Langar house at Amritsar. The Brahmins helped the Gurus to compile the entire Sri Adi Granthji & gave the entire works of the Guru 31 or so different Shastriya Ragas to be sung in. It is a well known fact that these Bhatts played a major role during the formation of a different form of Hindu Dharma known as Nirguna Bhakti ( Vedic philosophy of where the Supreme Being can be worshipped formless ) giving Sanatan Sikhi its birth on Punjab soil. Since Hindus were banned from worshipping at Hindu temples which were already demolished in their thousands by the Malesha Muslims, the Nirguna Niraakar form of Vedic worship where no temple was required, nor any Murtis of Vedic Gods were required, but only the Naam Simran was the predominant way of worship.

This Nirgun Niraakar philosophy was nothing new during the time of our Gurus, but goes back to 5,000 BC, in the time of the great Saint from Kerala - Adi Shankaracharya - who composed many scriptures honouring Lord Shiva as the Formless Niraakar Akaal Purusha ( sanskrit for the Formless, Timeless Supreme Being ). The Upanishads, compiled millions of years prior to our Gurus, too claim the Supreme Being as Niraakar ( formless), Nirbhaya ( fearless) , Ajam ( birthless) etc.

Guru Nanak Dev ji having witnessed himself the barbaric rape of Punjab & its Hindus by the Malesha Babur, saw the sad plight of an otherwise progressive Hindu society, whose ancient traditions & heritage were being destroyed by the outsiders. By surrounding himself constantly with great Sadhus, Guruji realised that the Advaita philosophy of worshipping Paramatma was the only way out of keeping Vedic traditions from being destroyed & therefore kept Sanatan Dharam alive in the hearts of the oppressed Hindus.The continuous Islamic invasions into India had actually caused an upheaval of Hindu society & several sub-castes came about due to the imbalance caused by Islam. So, instead of the original four Varnas of Hindu society, India had thousands of sub-tribes & 'castes' as a result of Islamic tyranny.

Well this is absolutely for the gullible & ridiculous. Though Nanak Devji longed to unite all the Hindus of Punjab at a time of great scale of genocides being carried out by Babur & his Islamic tyrants, it is a fact that ALL the Guru Sahibaans themselves kept to their own 'Castes' & married within their own Varnas. NanakDevji's message was more to do with One human brotherhood on Earth - similar to the ancient Hindu belief of 'Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava' : All beliefs are One & 'Vasudaiva Kutumbakam' : Entire Cosmos is One family. The concept originates in theMaha Upanishad(Chapter 6, Verse 72):

Only small men discriminate saying: One is a relative; the other is a stranger. For those who live magnanimously the entire world constitutes but a family.

So according to NanakDevji, he was only reminding the downtrodden Hindus of Punjab of this ancient Upanishadic philosophy while at the same time appeasing the Islamic tyrants, hoping to bring the message of peace as well as unity - something that unfortunately did not work when dealing with the fascist ideology of Islam. But at the same time, the Neo-Sikhs fail to comprehend the message of Guru NanakDevji & instead in their eagerness to break away from the Hindu system of Varna, they are quick to overlook the fact that whatever Guruji mentioned about the oneness of creation on Earth, the whole concept is in fact an ancient Hindu one.

Today, on Baisakhi Day, in 1699, Guru Gobind Singhji initiated the five Hindus who were from different 'castes' to form the Brotherhood of Khalsa - to bring unity of Hindu society, which he was also a part of & he gave them the name 'Paanch Piyaare' - the chosen 5. Guruji wanted unity within all the Varnas, regions & wanted equality, so to make a uniting force against the Islamic tyrants & throw them out of Punjab as well as India. His was a noble thought which had its roots in Vedic philosophy where all humans were equal. Though today, Sikhs fail to follow Guruji's words & are even more divided than before.

11 April, 2012

I know I have not posted for some time - I have been so overwhelmed with writing a book, doing research etc and of course family commitments as marriages have taken place since my last post. I was also busy travelling around Punjab - from Jalandhar to Patiala, from Amritsar to Anandpur Sahib in Himachal in great research of Sikh history.

Well, I am back now & hope to pick up from the last post.
Waheguru Ji is great and He is the only One who has given me great strength to continue with the next series of posts on our great Sikhi heritage.

Here is one of my favourite Shabads sung by my favourite Bhai Harjinder Singhji - this is more or less the way shabads ought to be sung in their traditional Vedic Ragas & not in the monotonous way most Granthis are busy singing in nowadays - this is yet another topic I will be addressing very soon.

16 June, 2011

I've been meaning to address this issue for very long. We Sikhs are a very gullible & ill educated lot that we have accepted everything that the Granthis & Singh Sabha Gyanis who have for their own political ambitions, managed to brainwash nearly 100% of the Sikhs into believing in cock & bull stories which were later invented during the late 19th century under British ruled Punjab. I'll begin with the first one:

This is a great lie invented by Neo Sikhs like Kahn Singh Nabha who re-edited the entire Sikh history & one that is extremely popular to bash Hindus with:

'The status of women in Hindu society at that time was very low. When the husband died, the wife either voluntarily burnt herself on the pyre of her husband or was thrown into the fire without her consent. In popular term the woman who did perform this act was called Sati (truthful). Guru Amar Das carried out a vigorous campaign against the practice of Sati. He gave special attention to the improvement of the status of women and thus prohibited this practice. The Guru lifted the status of women as equal to men. He prohibited the practice of Sati and preached in favor of widow marriage.'

Lets take a look at the historical facts which we are never told:

With the brutal & barbaric invasions of Islamic hordes into Punjab, the favourite passtime of the Malesha Muslims was to attack villages, burn houses, kill men or take them as slaves, kidnap & rape Hindu women. Many Hindus were abducted from Afghanistan & Punjab, put in cages to be sold in the slave markets of Iraq. Babur or full name of the barbarian Muslim, Zahiruddin Mohammed Babur,who invaded Punjab several times gloats in his own biography of accounts 'Tojk Baburi' :

'In order to celebrate the auspiciousness of my victory, I rejoice in setting the villages & towns of the Hindu kuffirs ( infidels) on fire. They who are caught, I have killed them in front of me near the tent & I am hopeful of a place in Jannat ( Islamic heaven ). One time thousands of Hindus were slaughtered by my army that I had to change my tent three times. The women of the Kaffirs are fully dressed in their finest silks & adorned with heavy gold ornaments, fit to be won & captured as a booty for myself and in the name of Allah '

GuruNanak Devji in his BaburVani describes this barbarian as the angel of death. Guruji saw the full devastation of the Hindus of Punjab and was witness to many horrors carried out by Babur. Referring to the pitiable plight of women, he states:"the robes of some women are torn from head to foot."[79] "The heads which were adorned with tresses and filled with varmillion ( Sindoor ), are shaven and throats are chocked with dust....The ropes are put around their necks and their strings of pearls are broken. The order was given to the soldiers, who having dishonoured them, took them away."[80]

The above statement by Guru NanakDevji describes how Hindu women were being raped & abducted by the Muslim armies. His criticism of Babur refers to him when he was an invader & not yet established as the ruler of the land. Guru Nanak upbraided Babur and his troops for tyranny and atrocities by which Hindus had to suffer a lot. Guru Nanak did not condemn Babur because he was a Muslim, but because he had caused rape, death and devastation. the Sufis at the time celebrated Babur's tyranny against the Hindus while NanakDevji was concerned about the terrible plight of Hindu women because of Islamic tyranny.

Now back to the myth & hype of Sati practice of burning Hindu widows - a mere story made up by the British & anti Hindus without really taking a deeper look into this. The name Sati actually belongs to the Divine consort of Lord Shiva & in sanskrit it means 'Loyal & Steady'. Nowhere in Hindu scriptures whilst studying them have I been able to find anything encouraging the burning of women, but only a myth propagated to bash Hindus with. While Sati is a myth, Jauhar is an actual fact of medievel Indian history where thousands of Hindu women would voluntarily jump into burning fires along with their children to prevent the barbaric muslims from capturing them & raping them, after their husbands had been killed in battle. Also, we are never told that even the corpses of dead Hindu women were raped by the Islamic invaders to satisfy their urge of being rewarded the highest place in their Islamic Heaven of Paradise. Their ornaments were taken while their dead corpses were stripped of silk clothings. Instead of praising the sheer bravery of Hindu women who would rather burn their body than to let any Malesh musim touch it, what we are told in derogatory way by neo-Sikhs is that there is no respect of Hindu women who are 'forced to burn themselves'.

When foreign conquerors like Muslims invaded India they brought with them their own dark ages culture. For them women was the sole property of her father, brother or husband and she does not have any will of her own. The decline in women's status and freedom was that originally Hindus wanted to shield their women folk from the barbaric Muslim invaders. As polygamy was a norm for these invaders they picked up as many women as they wanted and kept them in their "harems" or were sold off in slave markets of Iraq. In order to protect them, Hindu women started using 'Purdah', (a veil), which covers body. Due to this reason their freedom also became affected. They were not allowed to move freely and this lead to the further deterioration of their status. These problems related with women resulted in changed mindset of people. Now they began to consider a girl as misery and a burden, which has to be shielded from the eyes of intruders and needs extra care. Due to this the practice of Baal Viyah or child marriage had crept into society also.Guru Nanak Devji's accounts as witness in his BaburVani actually presents the hard reality of how low women's status had reached during the numerous Islamic invasions. Their status was not low because of any Hindu religious belief as we are led to believe by the Tat Khalsa puppets but that Islamic Jihad encouraged rape & abduction of Hindu women, which was totally alien to Hindu Dharam. Women in Hindu Dharam had been in highest regard & held important place in society. They were equally educated as their male counterparts & many had written Samrittis & Vedic philosophies also.

And this was exactly what Swami Vivekanand told when he was asked to differentiate west and east on this ground; he said:

‘In west, every woman other than a mother is a wife. But in India, every woman other than a wife is a mother’.

In fact modern sikhs have rejected their Sanatan Dharamic philosophy of giving a woman the status of a Goddess Lakshmi as seen in Hinduism. No other religion on Earth gives this highest form of respect to a woman as does Hindu Dharam where the wife is considered the image of Goddess Lakshmi of the house.

Women are the pillars of a house. If they divert towards un-homely acts, it is for sure that collapse of the family would result. Sanatan Hindusim believes that naturally, women are created more powerful then men. Men are stronger, but women are more powerful (In Hindu society, women are called ‘Shakti Swaroop’, meaning Goddess of Power). Strength and power are two different aspects. Strength persists in body, while power is a mental attribute. Tolerance capacity of women far exceeds men and it requires mental power to bear stress. Men are weak towards women, and this adds immensely to women’s power.

HINDU WIDOWS:

Woman as Widow in Vedic India:

The Vedic texts indicate that widow remarriage was allowed. The Dharmasutras appended to various Vedic schools also permit widow remarriage.This general permission for remarriage of widows was maintained in some texts of classical Hinduism. In certain cases, if the husband went abroad for longer than a particular period of time, the woman was permitted to remarry as well.One may cite several examples of widow remarriages from ancient India. In the Harivamsha Purana, Ugrayudha proposes to Satyavati, the widow of Shantanu, indicating that it was not taboo to marry a widow. The Jataka tales narrate some other instances of men marrying widows in the Hindu society in the pre-Buddhist period. Emperor Chandragupta II in the 4 th century CE married the Dhruvadevi, the widow of his elder brother. Vira Hammira of Chittor married the widowed daughter of Maldeo and their son Kshetrasimha succeeded him to the throne of Udaipur. Remarriage of widow was generally recommended with her younger brother in law, though there does not seem to be an absolute restriction in this regard. Such examples were not commonplace though and a life of celibacy was generally recommended for widows.

So what Guru Amar DasJi did was to actually re-introduce these Vedic laws back into Punjabi society - this was nothing new to Hindu Dharam & also we mustn't forget that Guru AmarDasJi was a Hindu himself. Nowhere does he mention he is a Sikh following a different religion from that of his Hindu ancestors. What he has mentioned in a shabad has been totally distorted & suppressed by the Tat Khalsa goons by misinterpretations of this original verse. In a shabad in measure Suhi, Guru Amar Das says,

"Satis are not those that burn themselves on the husband's funeral pyre; satis are they, O Nanak, who die of the pangs of separation (SGGS, 787)"

Guruji here is actually telling us the true meaning of Sati & not the distorted one we are led to believe.

The Myth of equality for Sikh women

Today Punjab is the only state in India with the highest figures of aborted female foetuses. In other words, Sikhs in their greed for having only the male child in their families, they commit female Foeticide where large numbers of aborted foetuses of female embryos have been found all over Punjab. This has pushed statistically the ratios of males higher to that of females. So what do the Neo Talibanised Sikhs have to say for the equality they of women they so preach falsely to everyone? Here is the list of inequalities for Sikh women:1] Female foeticide2] Sikh women can never be part of the Paanj Piyaare ...so where is the equality there?3] After any singing of the Asa Di Vaar, prashaad karaa is distributed to men only - not to women..4] Have you ever noticed that at Harmandir Sahib women are not allowed to do Kirtan and do certain seva? Is it a boys only club?? Who are the Taliban Neo Sikhs kidding?

Myth No.2 - 'SIKHS ARE DIFFERENT FROM MUSLIMS & HINDUS'

This is my second one that keeps me laughing away at the ignorance displayed by neo Sikhs blinded on this Tat Khalsa lie. Guru NanakDevji's famous verse : 'I am not a Hindu, nor a Muslim' is quickly brought in to give a separatist agenda. In fact they never finish the entire verse - I am not a Hindu, nor a Muslim, I am neither white nor Black. Here Guruji is describing the spiritual attributes of the Soul & Self - which has already been mentioned in the Upanishads millions of years before Guru Nanakji & this is nothing new he had mentioned.

Firstly, what gets me is why Muslims are always brought into the equation - I mean Islam advocates hatred & extermination of Kaffirs totally. So why oh why murakh neo-Sikhs always jump to this? Why this pathetic fear of Hindu brothers? Is the Muslim card always used to distant Sanatan Sikhi from its own mother Hindu Dharam? If we believe the Tat Khalsa lies of how Sikhi is in danger from Hindus then this is surely a miserable existence as Sikhs with no spiritual advancement whatsoever. We Sikhs did not drop down from another planet, nor from the skies of Punjab. We DO come from Hindus who are the one & the same as us - how can we harbour so much hatred for the same blood that flows in our veins? Why do we easily become brainwashed by the '' Gyanis '' of Tat Khalsa who preach to us that Sikhi is in danger & Hindus want to exterminate us?

The other one we are told is that Brahmins are very jealous of Sikhi - WHAT? Why should they be? Brahmins are considered the same as what Granthis are to us. So why are we constantly being scared off from Brahmins by the Talibanised Tat Khalsa bigots? According to these bigots, everything is the fault of the Brahmins!! How pathetic is this?

We are the same from the same ancient Hindu ancestors of Punjab; We share the same heritage; We share the same blood that flows in our veins; We share the same festivals; We both fought alongside of each other against our common enemy - The Islamic invader; We share the same language & food; We come from the same Hindu Mother;We forget that our spiritual GuruBanis come from Hindu Saints & our own Hindu Gurus.

Why then must we be made to believe blindly that we are alien from our Sanatan Dharmic background? Has Sikhi dropped out of the sky without its origins from the Hindu scriptures? Why is the Shri Adi Granth being misinterpreted wrongly by Tat Khalsa blinded Sikhs? I will not agree if our beautiful Sanatan Sikhi is deliberately being dragged into darkness by those blind ignorant Talibanised Sikhs just because of their ego & insistence of distorting our sacred philosophy which is entirely from the Vedas & Upanishads. These fools have gone totally against the teachings of our great Gurus by reducing Sikhi's association with Hindu Dharam as mere 'cultural identity' - this is a great disrespect & disgrace to Sanatan Sikhi & Gurus & they are living in denial only. They are the real enemies of Sanatan Sikhi Dharam & if they continue this way, it is only destruction of this great heritage that they are encouraging.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿The Tat Khalsa Singh Sabhias have managed to suppress the Sanatan Hindu Sikhi version by inventing a new anti Hindu history & ignoring the fact that Guru NanakDevji was a Vaishnava Hindu Saint. I have come across authentic frescos dating back over 200 years which clearly show NanakDevji wearing a Chandan Tilak, Rudraksh Mala & Seli Topi instead of the image we are made to believe of him today.The first image ( above) is the original handwritten Pothi by NanakDevji, a Shaligram dedicated to Lord Vishnu & mala & padam belonging to him. A Shila or Shaligram is a Hindu Vaishnava aniconic representation of Lord Vishnu, in the form of a spherical, usually black coloured stone found in the sacred river Gandaki.

Below is a fresco (over 200 yrs old), found in the inner sanctum of Dera Baba Charan Shah Udasin at Bahadurpur in Hoshiarpur, Punjab. It depicts the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev, along Bhai Bala, a Hindu disciple is fanning the Guru. Note the Vaishnav Chandan tilak on His forehead.﻿

A very rare portrait of Guru Nanak Dev ji ( circa 16th cetury A.D ) - He is accompanied by Bhai Mardana & He seems to be addressing a Saint dressed up as a Hindu woman adorned with the sixteen forms of traditional beauty & clothing- notice the Red Tilak on Guruji's forehead & the traditional Seli Topi worn by Hindu saints of the Bhakti period.

Above: Guruji in the company of Bhai Mardana playing the rabab, while Bhai Bala stands behind Guruji who is conversing with Hindu saints - rare painting dated 17th century.

Above: Guru Nanak Devji with Bhai Mardana playing the rabab & Bhai Bala holding a fan - notice how Guruji is depicted in this traditional 18th century painting - He is holding a rudraksh mala & a traditional 'Kamandal' which a small pot used by all Hindu Yogis that holds water.

Above: Blocks of wood were carved with the outlines and shapes of pictures. These could then be inked and printed onto paper. This technique for mass production was adopted in Panjab in the 19th century and enabled artists to reach a much larger market than previously.Above is a 19th century portrait made in wood - Guru Nanak Devji with Bhai Mardana & Bhai Bala. ( Victoria & Albert Museum, London )

Upto the early period of 19th century Guru Nanak Devji was painted by artists as a traditional Hindu Saint of the Bhakti period of India until the Tat Khalsa was established towards the end. From then onwards, a very different looking Nanak Devji - an image of Him similar to some Sufi type of Saint was circulated - which today's Sikhs have been forced to accept.

15 May, 2011

[Copyright Organiser By Dr. Arvind S. Godbole]

The claim of many Sikh politicians and authors that Sikhism is a separate religion, calls for an objective and a nationwide debate. In this debate, we can keep aside, the semantic of the terms dharma and ‘religion’ and use the term ‘religion’, as it is commonly understood at present. To qualify as a ‘separate religion’ it must have a theology and philosophy distinct from other religions. The revered, Shri Guru Granth Sahib (Granth, G.pp. no) is the most important source of Sikh theology and philosophy. According to the Granth, the supreme Being is sans beginning (G.1351), primordial being (G.129), complete or integral (G.705) eternally true (G.1,119), sans human birth (G.1,99), transcendent as well as immanent (g.79, 102 etc), antarjami (G.13,43,454 etc.) nirvairu or sans enemity (G.1,99), fearless (G.199), fearless (G.1,464 etc.), supremely resplendent ( G.13,277 etc.), supreme bliss (G.814), untainted or niranjana (G.119,597,1353) and both sarguna and nirguna (G.128,862).

These basic theological concepts are of the Sanatana Hindu religion. Shankara in his Vivekachudamani (225) calls Parabrahma as nitya or eternal. Bhagvadgita (9.18) regards the supreme as the primordial origin of the universe. The Chandogya Upanishad (8.3.8) holds that the truth is His name. Bhagvadgita, (7.25), declares that the ignorant think that the Supreme Being has a birth. The immanence of the Supreme being, a cardinal tenet of the Sanatana Hindu religion and the Sikhism differentiates then clearly from the Semitic religions, who do not subscribe to that doctrine. Several hymns of the Granth, bring out very eloquently, the contrary attributes of God e.g. ‘You are the teacher, you are the disciple’)G.69); ‘You are water, you are the fish’ (G.85). This is a corollary of the doctrine of total immanence of God and is an echo of the Taittiriya Upanishad. Antarjami (antaryamin), an attribute of God, is drown from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The epithet, nirvairu of the Parabrahma is a corollary of the doctrine of immanence. The Amritbindupanishad (6) holds that God is impartial. This doctrine differs from the Old Testament concept of ‘chosen people’ or the Quranic concept of the ‘favoured believers’.

That the Supreme is a bliss is a Vedantic concept, endorsed both by The Brahmasutra and the Tejabindupanishad. That the supreme is untainted is the doctrine of the Upanishads, later adopted by the Nath samparadaya. Guru Nanak has sung the glory of Om (G.929-930) as the creator of the Vedas, etc. Needless to say the Om is the Vedic mantra as well as a pan Hindu symbol. Expressions like, ‘Uradh mula jasu sakha’ (Guru Nanak, g.503), ‘Neta neta kathanti beda’ (Guru Arjuna, g.1359), ‘Brahamgiani sada niralepa jaise jalamahi kamal alepa’ (Guru Arjuna, G. 272) are but echoes of the Vedas and the Bhagvadgita.

The philosophical concepts of the Grantha like indestructibility of soul, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, evil impulses viz lust, anger, etc., maya, brahamgiani, cardinal importance of guru, the importance of recitation and meditation of Hari or Ramanama, realization of soham for the liberation, jeevana mukti, the merger of the individual soul with the supreme soul, during life time or the mukti, the two categories of people viz the manamukha seeking ephemeral pleasures and the gurumukha or the god oriented people, are Sanatana Hindu Concepts.

The Philosophical nomenclature of the Granth viz Parabrahma, Ghata, Pinda, Atama, Moksha, Mukti, jeevan Mukti, Maya, Mithya, Sarguna and Nirguna, Bharamanda, Jogu (yoga), Raja Jogu (rajayoga), Isaru (Ishvara) is same as that of the Sanatana Hindu religion. The term like four yugas, four padaratha goals of life-viz the purushartha, tribhuvana, amrita, lakha chourasiha 84 lakh species, which appear so often in the Grantha denote its Sanatana Hindu ethos.

Neither Guru Nanak nor any of the other Sikh Gurus declares in their hymns that he is founding a religion. Guru Amardas declares that ‘He gave the smritis, the Shastras (Vedas) and the reckoning of punya and papa’ (G.949). “You are the Shastras, you are the Vedas”, sings Guru Arjun (G.1150). Not only the Smritis and the Shastras but Puranas also were created by His order, declares Guru Arjun (g.261). A distinct civil code and a distinct mythology are hallmarks of a separate religion e.g. Islam, Old Testament as the mythology of the Semitic religions. The Sikhs share the same mythology, as elaborated by the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, Shrimad Bhagvata, with the Sanatani Hindus. The Sikhs never had and could not have a separate civil code, given the reverence of the Sikh Gurus for the Smritis and the absence of any declarations, in the Granth on marriage, divorce and inheritance. The recent practice of many Sikh authors to present ten Sikh Gurus as ten prophets does not have a scriptural basis. Sikh Gurus never claimed to be prophets or having received any massages from God. With great humility, they said that they were but the dust of the feet of saints.

The rejection by the Sikh Gurus of the Vedic rituals and their insistence on inner realization of God is consistent with the Upanishads. Although the hymns of the Granth repeatedly describe god as formless, a nirguna, they do describe, in many places, the physical attributes of God. Wherever they do so, the description is invariably that of Vishnu or one of His incarnations (G.567, 1082, 1402). The argument that because Sikhism is monotheistic, it is akin to Islam and or a different religion is unfounded. The monotheism of Sikhism is different from that of Islam. While revering the One Parabrahma, Sikhism like the Sanatana Hindu religion, does not reject other Gods. The expression like ‘Suri Nara’ (G.775), devate kodi tetise’ (G.1079), ‘tritia brahma bisanu mahesa’ (G.839), Yama, Yamaduta, Yama danda appear in the Granth.

The Farid Bani in the Granth does not support the notion that there is a Sufi element in Sikhism. The Farid Bani deals with general themes like inevitability of old age and death. It does not bring out any basic philosophical doctrines. Unlike the Bhagat Bani, which appears uninterrupted, in the Granth, the Farid Bani is interspersed with the Guru’s verses, indicating that the Gurus desired to comment on it. The Sufi nomenclature is conspicuous by its absence in the Granth. The Guru’s criticism of mechanical relation of the Vedas without understanding their meaning and their insistence on the inner God realization is consistent with Shankara’s Vivekachudamani V. The rejection of idol worship by the Sikh gurus has been mistakenly interpreted as rejection of the Sanatana Hindu religion. ‘He is not in any symbol’ declares the Brahma sutra ((4.1-4). Idol worship is not an essential component of the Sanatana Hindu religion. The claim that Sikhism rejects the avatara concept of the Sanatana Hindu religion is also baseless. ‘Sunnahu upaje dasa avatara ‘declares Guru Nanak (G.1038). ‘Assuming the form of a child, you killed Kamsa, Keshi and Kuvalyapida’, says Guru Ramadas (G.606). In one hymn, Guru Arjun enumerates various avatara (G.1082). Story of Prahlad (Narasimha avatara) appears in many places in the Granth, Guru Gobind Singh wrote Ramavatara, Krishnavatara and and Chobis avatara. Guru Gobind Singh says in his autobiographical ‘Bachitra Natak’ that the Bedis (Guru Nanak’s clan) and the Sodhis, his own clan originated, respectively, from Kusha and Lava, the sons of Shri Rama. It should be remembered that Guru Gobind Singh did not make the initiation into the Khalsa, mandatory for all Sikhs. Bhai Nandlal, an important member of the court of the tenth Guru and an author of a famous Sikh Rahatnama and Bhai Kanhaiya were not Khalsa Sikhs.

The fear that the Sikhs will lose their identity if they are included in the Hindu society is unfounded. Without losing their characteristic features and individual identity, the Varkaris, the Ramadasis, the Swami Narayan Panthis have remained within the Hindu society. In the present controversy of the nature of ‘Sikh religion’, let us keep aside the current and past politics and in the Sikh tradition, seek the guidance from the Guru Granth Sahib.

(Dr. Arvind Godbole is author of Guru Nanak Guru Gobind Singh (Marathi) and Philosophy of Shri Guru Granth Sahib’ (English) and many articles on Sikh history and Sikh Philosophy.)